Where Does Alice Springs Get its Water From?

Alice Springs water supply comes from the Roe Creek borefield in the Amadeus Basin. The basin is an enormous underground sedimentary rock formation extending south from Alice Springs towards the South Australian border and westward into Western Australia and covering about 150,000 km2. The basin is 7 km deep in the middle and holds a lot of water!

Most of the water used in Alice Springs comes from the Mereenie Formation an aquifer lying about 14 -18 km south of the township. It is one of three underground rock formations from which we draw our drinking water, the other two are the Pacoota and Shannon formations. The Mereenie aquifer provides about 70% of the town’s water supply from a storage of about 5,200,000 ML which is about the same size as 5 million Olympic sized swimming pools or 10 Sydney Harbours.

Location of groundwater aquifers

Click for larger image

This diagram shows a cross section through the Alice Springs region geology. The 'dotted' regions show aquifers containing ground water. The Roe Creek borefield can be seen tapping into the Mereenie & Pacoota sandstone and the Shannon formation.

While Alice Springs is lucky to be located close to this large body of good quality groundwater, pumping water from underground rocks is not easy. Water moves very slowly though rock and extracting it is like trying to drink a very icy thickshake with a narrow straw.

How Much Water Do We Use?

Since pumping at Roe Creek began in 1964, Alice Springs has used a volume of water equal to about half a Sydney Harbour. Each household in Alice Springs uses an average of 1,600 litres every day and in 2004 the town used 10,425 ML of water from the Roe Creek borefield. Alice Springs also uses approximately 700 ML per year from the (lesser quality) Town Basin aquifer that underlies the town for irrigation of parks and sports fields.

 

Map showing approximate extent of town basin - More info (pdf 162Kb)

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Are We Running Out of Water?

Unfortunately more water is taken from the Roe Creek aquifers than they receive from rainfall or river recharges. As a result water levels in the Roe Creek bores (currently about 150m below surface) are dropping more than a metre every year.

There’s still a lot of water in the basin, but it isn’t being recharged quickly enough to replace the water that is pumped out. Also, pumping water from deep underground is expensive costing more the deeper we go. As the level drops, bores have to be deepened and new bores drilled. If Alice Springs water use increases it may be as soon as 20 years (see the note below) that a second borefield at Rocky Hill to supplement Roe Creek will have to be developed.

By saving water we can all help save money by delaying the drilling of new bores. Saving water also saves pumping energy and conserves precious water resources so they can be supplied at an affordable price to future generations.

Note: Power and Water estimate a new borefield may be required in 20-50 years however a number of variables will determine exactly when this occurs. Variables include; extraction costs, Water Efficiency Program measures implemented, climate change, improved leakage detection and repair and supplementing some present Roe Creek use (eg for irrigation) with alternative supplies like Town Basin water or treated effluent.

How Did Water Get into the Underground Aquifers?

Water soaks into the ground when rivers flow after rain. The underground water at Roe Creek has gradually accumulated over thousands of years. Some of it comes from ancient floods that occurred when the climate was wetter than it is today and some of it is much more recent. There are small rises in Roe Creek borefield water level following flows in Roe Creek and the Todd River. That shows why we have to be very careful about keeping pollutants out of our stormwater drains and waterways. We must be careful not to pollute our water supply.

More Information

• Alice Springs Water Resource Strategy
• Groundwater in Alice Springs
• Roe Creek Borefield fact sheet (pdf 120Kb)
• Alice Springs Town Basin fact sheet (NRETA) (pdf 162Kb)
• Preventing Groundwater Pollution fact sheet (NRETA) (pdf 74Kb)
• Guidelines to Clean Water (pdf 56Kb)

NRETA is now developing the Alice Springs Water Resource Strategy to ensure this water is well managed for the Alice Springs community for many years to come.

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